She’s eating boys
WRITTEN BY AMANDA HAMPTON PHOTOGRAPHED BY XINYI GAO
P
icture any traditional horror movie, and the image that first comes to mind more than likely involves a pretty girl being chased through the woods by a man with a big knife. All too often, women in horror films are highly sexualized and portrayed as weak; unable to do more than run, scream, and die. In the American horror film, women are often killed as punishment for their sexuality. A common slasher film trope involves women being brutally murdered directly after having on-screen sex. In opposition to this is the ubiquitous Final Girl—who is invariably virginal and is therefore allowed to survive until the end credits. This 13 | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
makes for a pretty clear message: only “pure” women deserve to live, and having a sexual presence merits punishment. All sluts must die. These commonly held tropes and archetypes illustrate how the horror genre was largely maledriven and ref lective of the fear and anxiety surrounding female sexuality. However, the genre has begun to rethink its male-centered narratives, with films like Jennifer’s Body, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Midsommar, and Us—all of which subvert the classic horror model of women being terrorized by making them the terrorizers. These films have made